Families are being shipped from the notorious Texas immigration detention center to a Pennsylvania facility.
October 29, 2009
The T. Don Hutto immigration detention
center in Texas is closing thanks to the efforts of a coalition of
activists, lawyers and community members. The detention center was instituted during the Bush administration as a
perverse solution to keep immigrant families together while ensuring
they make their court dates. Hutto
was notorious for its human rights violations and substandard
conditions. Families were deprived of medical care, children were not
given schooling and many women reported sexual abuse at the hands of
guards. In 2007, a coalition led by the ACLU successfully forced ICE to
improve conditions at the center.But immigrant rights advocates aren’t celebrating yet. Families will
be moved to a Pennsylvania detention facility President Obama has not yet kept his campaign promise to propose a major overhaul of the immigration system.
